Nissan Taps Into Brand Heritage While Promising ‘Thrills’ During NCAA Tournament

While most major automakers are focusing their marketing efforts on their embrace of electric vehicles, Nissan is taking a look back at the brand’s early EV development and showing what’s to come. Nissan plans to roll out 10 new models over the next 20 months, but the goal goes beyond touting new lines of cars. Nissan wants to give customers a broad sweep of its 80 years in the automotive business. In a conversation with Adweek, Allyson Witherspoon, vp and CMO at Nissan U.S., said that the company first pursued EV 10 years ago. The underlying message of Nissan’s new campaign, dubbed “Thrill,” is a consistent advancement in automobile technology. The 'thrill of driving' “We have a long history of electrification,” Witherspoon told Adweek. “The Nissan Tama came out in 1947. The Nissan Leaf debuted in 2011. It was the first mass-produced vehicle, so we're paying homage to the model. Our electrification story details.. all the [knowledge] we’ve acquired over the last 10 years. The Leaf also leads us to Ariya, which will be our all-electric SUV, coming out later on this year.” The campaign’s theme subtly explores what the “thrill of driving” means to car buyers now, as the world considers the post-pandemic period. But Nissan recognizes this is still something of an “in-between moment” as U.S. cities are only now starting to open up businesses more fully. With that awareness in mind, Nissan treads carefully by deploying familiar imagery and welcoming the return of actor Brie Larson. New Nissan, new normal Larsen takes viewers through a series of “thrilling vehicles” that cycle through the past, present and future of the brand. An official sponsor of NCAA March Madness, Nissan will debut the “Thrill” campaign during the NCAA Final Four with a brand-new spot named “The New Nissan.” The campaign balances the 80-year-old company’s heritage with a message of enthusiasm for future tech. The Nissan ads will also emphasize performance and capability, pointing to the brand’s long history and looking forward to what’s to come from the automaker’s Pathfinder and Frontier models. Beyond makes and models, the brand will also promote its Nissan At Home platform, which allows full end-to-end online buying and transaction. Nissan’s multi-year partnership with Larson kicked off last March. That effort, the “Refuse to Compromise” campaign, showed off the redesigned Sentra. Actor and carmaker were reconnected last fall for the 2021 Nissan Rogue’s campaign. Another shot at March Madness When the Larson ads first appeared last year, there was another beginning: Nissan’s first sponsorship of the NCAA tournament. But as the U.S. was barely a month into the pandemic, March Madness was canceled, and so was Nissan’s big production. In most years, an association with a high-profile championship contest practically guarantees brand lift. This year, success is hardly certain. After all, Super Bowl 55 viewership was 96.4 million people—a 14-year low, Adweek previously reported. “Since the onset of Covid-19, TV ratings have been down across a variety of programs,” Witherspoon said. “That’s not ideal for any advertiser or brand. But we are confident in the awareness and reach that does come from the full NCAA marketing ecosystem, which is really huge. Games are still within the top 15 on the viewing charts, and we are seeing increases, especially around the Sweet 16 games. “There is still a desire for viewers to watch live sports.,” she continued. “March Madness is always madness, and that’s true this year. The fans are engaged, which is why we think that it is an ideal place for us to be as a brand. And it’s a great platform for us to launch this brand campaign.” Nissan Appoints First US CMO Amid Leadership Realignment